Pardon me, Sir, but I cannot refrain from astonishment that Senators, learned lawyers, should be willing to treat the oath to support the Constitution as an oath of purgation, an oath of defecation, an oath of purification,--by which a suspected person may cleanse himself, by which an evil spirit may be cast out.
Sumner expresses his astonishment at the trivialization of the oath to support the Constitution by some Senators.
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Their existence is a disgrace to civilization; for it implies the common consent of nations to the Arbitrament of War, as regulated by these laws.
It applies an arrogant and unrelenting ostracism to all who express themselves against Slavery.
More precious far at that moment the consolation that he had labored for his fellow-men, and the joyous confidence that all his cares had helped the Progress of his race!
They who strive after it, Ixion-like, embrace a cloud.
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